


Starlight

by cerie



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Dating, F/M, First Dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-25
Updated: 2012-10-25
Packaged: 2017-11-17 00:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/545274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerie/pseuds/cerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s ridiculous that nobody’s ever spent time with Magnus in that way and that she’s so closed off to everyone that she won’t let herself enjoy a simple thing like going out on a date with someone she likes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> For Sam's birthday. She requested Helen/Will fluff and wanted cooking, so, happy, happy birthday :)

_i. like we’re made of starlight_

“I thought perhaps with the dissolution of your relationship with Abby and our incredibly busy schedules that we might engage in a sexual relationship.”

Will’s busy with cataloging some plant samples collected in the underground gardens around the new Sanctuary and it takes him a minute to parse _exactly_ what Magnus has said. Once he does, his pen jerks off the page and leaves a pretty-telling black mark across what he’d been writing. Oops.

“Uh, Magnus? Are you actually talking to me or is there some other Will who dated a woman named Abby that you’re addressing? Because that’s uh...yeah...um.”

Magnus frowns a little and there’s a furrow between her brows. “No, there’s no other person I’m addressing. I merely thought that it would be prudent to keep under the radar for the time being and neither of us have an appropriate outlet for such urges. It’s just as well that we expend that energy together.”

Will is convinced that Magnus has, in fact, lost it but he doesn’t want to offend her. Nobody in their right mind would turn down a chance to be with _the_ Helen Magnus and last time Will checked, he was still sane. It’s just not in his makeup to be someone’s booty call, even if said someone is his gorgeous and impossibly brilliant boss.

“Magnus, has anyone ever taken you out on a date? And I don’t mean some fancy stuff where you were both just trying to show off. I mean an actual date where you shared things about you, they shared things about them and you kissed and said goodnight at the end? Anything like that in the however-many years you’ve been alive?”

She frowns again but it looks more like she’s thinking than being confused or angry. Will takes that as a good sign. Helen finally lets out a slow sigh and shakes her head.

“Not in quite some time, I’m afraid. James and I used to go out regularly to the cinema back in the 40s and 50s. Nikola and I used to dance together but that edges into showing off - we were quite talented. I suppose John and I, back in the early days, we spent some time together in the manner that you’re suggesting.”

Will shakes his head. It’s ridiculous that nobody’s ever spent time with Magnus in that way and that she’s so closed off to everyone that she won’t let herself enjoy a simple thing like going out on a date with someone she likes. He stands and slides his arm around her waist and when she goes in to kiss him, it takes everything he has to press two fingers to her lips and stop her.

“Nope. None of that. We’re _dating_ first.”

Magnus looks even more confused and Will thinks it’s good that something can surprise her after this long.

_ii. oh my, what a marvelous tune_

Will is pretty serious about the whole dating thing and he thinks, considering he’s the one who wants to go about this traditionally, the onus is on him to actually plan the dates. He’s also a little old-fashioned, too, and he thinks the guy ought to plan the first date anyway. It’s archaic but considering who he’s dating, he thinks he can get away with it.

Tonight, he’s decided to christen their new game room with a private round of Rock Band. Magnus never likes to play in front of anyone else because Will won’t sing and she’s terrible at it so they usually stick Kate on singing and Magnus takes drums and Will and Henry are a tossup between guitar and bass. None of the rest of them are around tonight, though, so Magnus holds the microphone gingerly between finger and thumb and eyes Will dubiously.

“Are you certain? I’m terrible, Will.” Will gives her a warm smile and nods, taking up the guitar and splaying his fingers against the little plastic keys. “C’mon, Magnus. We’ll play for a little while and switch to something else, okay?”

She nods and starts it up. It only takes four times of failing their way through a Beatles album to determine this is simply not the game for them and Magnus goes to put it up when she pauses at the little cabinet that holds all the XBOX games. She draws out another slim case and wiggles it between her fingers.

“Shall we try this instead? It claims to be a riveting dancing experience. I think we’ll both be happier with this, yes?”

Will tries to avoid the dancing games as best he can but he guesses, with nobody around to mock him, he’s willing to give it a shot. Besides, he’d like to see _Helen Magnus_ dancing to Soulja Boy, so it’s a fair enough trade-off.

After a few songs and more than enough of Will missing the step and bowling into Magnus, he flops down onto the couch and just watches her. Magnus dancing is probably the happiest he’s ever seen her: hips shaking, shoulders rolling and hair flying free. She’s gorgeous and, better, she seems to be enjoying herself. After beating yet another high score (really, Henry and Kate are going to be pissed next time they play) she settles next to him on the couch and sprawls with her head in his lap. Will strokes her hair lightly.

“Having fun?” She nods, grinning wide enough to flash her dimples at him. It’s sweet, in a way, to see her so unfettered and Will’s glad that he was the one responsible for it this time around.

“Good. I like making you happy. It’s...kind of in my job description, if we’re dating.” Helen sits up then and turns so that she can cup his face. Her thumb brushes just against his cheekbone and Will shuts his eyes, trying not to give anything away. Not yet.

“Does dating entitle me to a kiss, then?”

It takes everything he has to shake his head no. “Not yet. I don’t kiss on the first date. You might think I’m easy or something.”

_iii. never would forget how we moved_

It actually takes a few weeks before they can have another date since a hell of a lot of things come up on pretty short notice but that’s just life in the Network. It’s less of a Network now that Magnus has gone underground but that means that she has to be more hands-on, too, and is less available for free time than she might have been back in Old City.

It’s been long enough that Will is shocked when she catches his hand in the middle of the workday and asks him to meet her in the kitchen that evening. They haven’t been taking meals together, either, since it’s just been too busy to do much more than break for a sandwich and go back to work but he can’t help but go along with it; Helen Magnus asking you on a date is not something you say no to.

Will turns up around 5:30 in fresh jeans and a clean shirt and he’s pleased to see that Magnus has changed out of her suit from earlier and into a breezy sundress in a pale peach that warms her skin up just enough to make him think she’s gotten some sun. She has gotten a little, there’s a dusting of freckles across her nose, and Will finds that he just wants to kiss them off. _Not yet,_ he thinks to himself.

“I thought we might cook supper and go have it outside?” There’s not sunrise and sunset here in the traditional sense since everything is climate controlled but Will guesses it’s the principle of the thing. He nods eagerly and asks what he can do to help which is, apparently, slicing a hell of a lot of zucchini lengthwise. He’s not really sure what Magnus is intending to cook but based on the ingredients, he suspects something Italian, and he is more than okay with that.

He takes one of her precision knives and starts working on what she’s asked while Magnus makes a sauce out of tomatoes, garlic, onions and a few herbs and spices that Will doesn’t recognize. Once her sauce is simmering, she comes up behind him and slides her arms around his waist. She’s in flats, so they’re more or less the same height, and she bends her head just slightly to press a kiss against his neck; Will very nearly chops his own finger off instead of the zucchini.

“Um, hi,” he says, feeling like an idiot. He gets a soft, “Hello,” in return and Magnus keeps close, sliding her hands up to cover his while he works with the knife. Will thinks she’s pretty brave, considering, but Magnus doesn’t seem concerned. Finally, he’s finished, and he puts the knife down and turns to face her.

He’s never been this close to Magnus before and like this, he can see the faint little lines around her eyes and mouth, her laugh and smile lines, and he can smell the softest hint of her perfume. He can see her freckles and, weirdly enough, she must not be wearing much makeup because her lashes look soft and tipped with gold.

“Can I help you? I was uh, trying not to amputate anything when using that ridiculous knife of yours.”

Magnus laughs and shakes her head, clearly amused, and brushes a butterfly-soft kiss against his cheek. Will, again, wants to abandon his notion of being a gentleman and just kiss her the way she’s been after for ages now but he stops and brushes his kiss against her forehead instead.

“C’mon. I’m starving. Let’s finish cooking?”

Will is pretty sure that Magnus didn’t _need_ to press her breasts against him before pulling away but he’s not really going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

_iv. worrying so much about things you can’t change_

The next date isn’t planned. Both of them are up to their ears in intake and paperwork and it’s the better part of two weeks before they have a moment to breathe again. Will spends his time catching up on some much needed sleep but Magnus, it seems, is still burning the candle at both ends. That’s just not going to do, at all, and he finally corners her one afternoon in her office.

“Okay, up. We’re taking a break, you and I, right now.” One of Magnus’s eyebrows arches up but she dutifully closes her laptop and caps her pen before shifting to stand. Will honestly hadn’t expected her to come without a fight and he’s a little stunned for a moment before he can recover and tell her his plan. It’s a little more risque than they’ve been together before now but considering Magnus started this relationship by asking him to fuck her, Will doesn’t think he’s pushing the boundaries too much. Besides, it’s just _fun_ and they both need it.

There’s a swimming pool in this new Sanctuary, just like the one that was allegedly in the old one, but this one has the illusion of being outside with the fancy lighting that Magnus has installed. This time of day, it’s abandoned, and once he leads her to it, he gives her a wide grin. There’s towels and robes down here for afterward but there’s no suits. Magnus arches her brow again.

“How do you presume we swim, then? I don’t have a suit and neither do you.” Will laughs and strips off his shirt, tossing it behind him before motioning toward her. “We’re gonna do it the old-fashioned way, Magnus. Just you, me, and our birthday suits. Are you in or are you chicken?”

Will guesses he should have expected her to strip down right in front of him but he thought that maybe she’d try to be modest, to turn her back and ask him to turn his, and that this would be a lot more innocent than oh-holy-fuck hot. Helen Magnus doesn’t back down from a challenge, though, and has no qualms about stripping and standing in front of him completely naked. Will looks for a long moment, gulps, and strips his own clothes as quickly as he can.

“As handsome as expected. I suppose there’s nothing to do but take the plunge, yes?” Magnus has drawn close to him and her voice is husky and low, the sexiest thing he’s ever heard. Her breasts are pressed against his chest and she’s backing him up slowly but surely. Will doesn’t figure out what she’s planning before she does it and his ass hits the water. Sneaky. She’s gonna pay for that.

Magnus arches and dives into the water like an Olympic swimmer and pops up next to him. There’s little droplets of water stuck in her eyelashes and she looks years younger and tons more relaxed than she did earlier. She presses up against him and Will’s incredibly grateful that the water is cold and it takes him a moment to actually process the words she’s whispering against his ear.

“Thank you, darling. I needed this.”

Score one for Team Zimmerman.

 _v. like we dream impossible dreams_

Will isn’t sure how he ended up piled up in Magnus’s bed but he guesses it has to do with the fact that the power’s gone out and the generators are all concentrated on maintaining the Abnormal habitats and not so much with his habitat. Magnus has candles in her room, a holdover from her room back in Old City, and it’s just as well that he’s here. They’re both reading, or trying to, but Will isn’t really interested in Abnormal Psychology and considering that he keeps catching Magnus staring at him over the edge of her Neruda, he guesses her attention is drifting too.

Maybe it says something that they’re so in tune that the books slip shut at the same time but Will’s not really looking to analyze it, not when he has a warm and soft Helen Magnus on top of him and his hands have buried themselves in her hair. It’s soft today, still a little damp from the shower, and it curls around his fingers. He tugs her closer and kisses her, finally giving in to what Magnus has been after for all these weeks. It’s sweeter this way after waiting, less about getting off and more about getting to know one another.

Magnus makes the sweetest little little noises when she’s kissing and Will wants, more than anything, to coax those out and make her feel as good as he possibly can. After kissing her for long moments, learning the sweet taste of her mouth and the soft press of her lips and body against his, Will flips them and presses her down into the bed. He breaks the kiss and pulls away just enough to look into her eyes.

“So. How do you feel about dating?”

Magnus laughs, low and sweet, and tugs him back to her to kiss him until he doesn’t know which way is up and if he’s breathing, it’s just _her_. Always her.


End file.
